NEW YORK -- On Friday, the sun will align with Manhattan's street gridto produce the phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge.

It happens twice in the summer during the setting sun and twice in the winter during the rising sun.

This picturesque sunset is caused by the city's grid layout, with cross streets set up east to west and the Earth's rotation.

This year's full Manhattanhenge will occur at 8:24 p.m. Friday and the half sunset at 8:25 p.m. Saturday. Clear weather is expected.

Unlike the winter sunrise, the summer sunset "gives a view straight across the city with the rivers on either side, the water giving a clear view to the sunset," American Museum of Natural History astrophysicist, Jackie Faherty told AccuWeather.com.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term Manhattanhenge in 2001, after Stonehenge, which displays a similar happening once a year when the sun rises in perfect alignment with the stones.

Other cities in the United States and Canada also observe their own solstice including Chicago, Baltimore, Toronto and Montreal.

What makes New York's different is the Hudson River and low cliffs of New Jersey that help set the scene, and the skyscrapers that act as pillars to frame it.

"The setting sun sets behind to the west, perfectly aligned with the street grid of New York City enough so we get not one but two shots of the sun, said Dave Brody, Science Writer for Space.com. "When that happens all that beautiful golden sunlight bounces."